A `Black Hole' Emits Some Light...But The Old Gang Isn't Giving Up

The first snow can't be far off in Bratislava, but there's a springlike feel about the Slovak capital these days. "The long winter is over," exults Mikulas Dzurinda, the country's new Prime Minister. "This country has been the laughingstock of Europe for too long."

Although the senior partner in the outgoing Cabinet, Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), gained the most votes in the Sept. 26-27 elections, the four major opposition parties, headed by Dzurinda's Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK), command a combined 93 seats in the 150-member Parliament. With those parties now pledging to work together, a bleak era is at an end.